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NYC DOT’s solution to crowded streets: blame pedestrians

The intersection of 14th Street and 1st Avenue is a major crossroads for Downtown Manhattan’s commuters. It’s the first stop in Manhattan on the L Train, and a stop on two major bus lines, the crosstown M14 and the uptown M15 – the two most heavily-used bus lines in Manhattan. It’s the location of the first north-south avenue from the many blocks and housing projects of Alphabet City and the massive Stuyvesant Town housing complex. More than 50,000 people live within a nine-block radius of these corners, and many of them pass through this intersection daily by foot. And so does crosstown and uptown car and truck traffic, often screaming through, and leading to dozens of pedestrian and cycling accidents in recent years, according to Transportation Alternatives’ Crash Stat program.

But rather than focus on making improvements for the tens of thousands of pedestrians that pass through the intersection daily, NYC’s DOT would rather scold them. Instead of focusing on how to slow traffic that often screams through the intersection just a few feet from throngs of pedestrians waiting to cross, they would rather focus on how to stop pedestrians from crossing the intersection by placing these signs at every corner.

Now, there are plenty of pedestrians who take their lives into their own hands by crossing against the signals here. But simply installing these signs ignores the major deficiency of this intersection: insufficient pedestrian facilities. 14th and 1st have no curb extensions, pedestrian refuges, or even crosswalks wide enough to support the rush hour crowds. And forget about leading pedestrian intervals – the signals actually favor car traffic, giving left turns from 14th Street onto 1st Avenue a headstart before pedestrians can cross. Let’s hope that these signs are a stopgap measure and not the DOT’s solution to fixing up this disastrous intersection.

This is an unfortunate reminder that despite NYC Transportation Commissioner Jeanette Sadik-Khan’s best efforts to change the mindset of DOT from one of moving cars to one of moving people, the agency still has a long way to go.

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10 Responses

Those signs have been there for a long time, likely prior to Sadik-Khan’s tenure.

I am a NYC pedestrian, not a driver, not a bicyclist. And I have no idea of the percentage of pedestrian injuries or fatalities that occur with peds crossing against the lights at 1st and 14th. But what exactly is the problem with people (everyone — cars, bikes, peds) all observing their own legal right of way and obeying traffic signs? Some intersections in NYC also have signs reminding cars to defer to peds in the crosswalk. I do not see any of these this as blame or scolding. Peds crossing against the light is hazardous and a bad idea at busy locations (at 14th and 1st or elsewhere), the same way that cars or bikes running red lights is a bad idea.

Signage does not replace physical ped/bike/car safety improvements but it is cheap, will not hurt anything, and may help if it keeps a subset of people from doing boneheaded things like self-entitled pedestrians making red-light crossings against traffic, self-entitled SUV drivers plowing through a crowded pedestrian crosswalk, or self-entitled bicyclists feeling that traffic lights do not apply to them.

(In fairness, leading pedestrian intervals would be even cheaper and more beneficial to peds than signage.)

Actually, Russell, those signs were just installed within the past two weeks. They also put one up at the intersection of Broadway, 17th, Union Square North, and Union Square West.

The previous signs said “wait for walk signal,” and were only installed on the northern corners to prevent pedestrians from crossing during the left-turn phase from eastbound 14th to 1st. These new signs are on every corner.

I’m more offended that these signs talk down to pedestrians when pedestrians aren’t the problem. Why not install “Proceed through intersection only when green” signs for cars? The thought of that sign seems a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?

I was there yesterday; it seemed like there was a lot less traffic coming down Broadway (probably as a result of closing Broadway in Times Square), which naturally means it will be faster traffic; I did notice a few people thinking they had plenty of time to cross when it turned out they didn’t. These signs are probably in reaction to this change in traffic patterns.

Is there still an all-direction pedestrian (“Barnes dance”) light cycle there? I didn’t notice yesterday.

I gotta say, I think peds in NYC don’t pay attention to the lights, period. And I say this as a fellow pedestrian. Peds will walk out during a green light, stand off the sidewalk, etc with no regard for traffic rules. There are rules in place for everyone’s safety, and I think some pedestrians need that reminder. Regardless, most of these types of signs are largely ineffective because no one pays attention to them anyway.

About the Author

Chris O'Leary is a transportation geek who has been reading and drawing maps since the age of 3. He thinks he knows far more than he does, but shares his somewhat informed opinions about mass transit, roads, and urban design here. He was born in Rhode Island and lives in New York City. He hates writing about himself in the third person.